Meet the Michigan Man: Mike Hart

A week or two ago a new Menards, a hardware-type store pretty much concentrated in the flyover country part of the US, opened not too far from where I live.  While that wouldn't ordinarily be exciting news, the flyer I received from them in the mail noted that they'd have some promotional events including autograph signers.  The exciting news was that one of those signers was going to be former Michigan RB great ("Why can't I hold all these records?") Mike Hart.

On Thursday evening I drove the few miles over to the store and got in line right around 6 when the event was due to start.  Roughly 45 minutes later I was at the table with the man himself who, true to his character, was very outgoing and personable with everyone, chatting, shaking hands, and happily taking pictures.

I decided to have him sign this Sports Illustrated from August of 2007 when he was on the cover:

It wasn't exactly in mint condition but I still feel like it'll look great framed.  And yeah, yeah, I remember what happened with Michigan Football's season not long after this issue came out, but I mean, come on, this is a beautiful cover!

Like I said, Mike was more than happy to let everyone get a photo op, and here was mine:

It was quite the experience and one I'll remember for a long time considering Hart is one of my favorite all-time Wolverines!